Expensive Disaster

Authors Note: Many thanks to my Beta Robert (Ragnarok45) who helped me finish out this story, and yes, I'm afraid it is rather finished, the end sort of snuck up on me. I will be doing an epilogue to tie up any loose ends, but so far as the actual story goes, we're done. I hope you're all happy with it, I've really enjoyed writing this story and I've loved reading all your reviews!! Look out for the Epilogue and please read my other stories!

Chapter 18 Down But Not Out

Bright light streamed into Harry’s room and he slowly opened his eyes to it, letting them adjust to the harsh glare of the morning sun. He tried to stretch, but found himself restricted by strong pale arms wrapped around his body; he had a momentary bout of panic before remembering flashes of the events of the night before.

“Draco?” he rasped in question, his throat scratchy and sore from hours of screaming and sobbing.

The blonde stirred behind him and squeezed Harry tighter before propping himself up sleepily on his elbow and looking down into his vibrant green eyes. “Morning,” he responded. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been run over, scraped off the road and run over again,” Harry replied, feeling puffy and worn. He hated that he was so emotional, because it tended to lead to crying, which always made him feel miserable the next morning.

Draco winced at Harry’s description and ran a soothing hand down the other boy’s arm, letting his fingers weave into Harry’s as he held his hand.

Harry looked down at their entwined hands and felt a barrage of emotions assault him. Everything from comfort to confusion threw themselves at Harry’s mind: it was too much to take so early in the morning; he withdrew his hand from Draco’s and looked away, though not quickly enough to miss the flicker of rejection that passed through Draco’s cool gray eyes.

Beside him, Draco moved away, sitting up and making to get out of bed, but Harry stopped him with a rough hand on the blonde’s arm, similar to Draco’s gesture just moments before. “I’m sorry, it’s just… we need to talk about all this I guess,” he muttered, wishing he could skip the talk and get straight to a resolution, but knew that would be impossible.

“Then talk,” Draco prompted.

“I can’t do this,” he whispered in response. “It’s too much and too soon; I’m too broken by you already.”

“So we’re a lost cause?” Draco asked, his face morphing into a cold and bitter mask, but Harry could only shrug.

Draco shook his head and pulled free of Harry’s grip. “I should have known better. I thought once you knew the truth that you would warm to me, but I see now that nothing makes a difference. Even though you care about me, you’re too stubborn to trust me,” Draco whispered and walked briskly to the door.

Harry could only gape after him, left sitting alone and rejected on the bed as Draco turned to look at him one last time, his gray eyes piercing Harry’s soul and reminding him of all he would lose if he let Draco leave this way. In that moment he knew above all else that he could not let Tristan’s scheming ruin both their lives. He could not let Draco go.

“Draco,” he pleaded, “don’t leave. We could try being friends, maybe I could learn to-”

“Don’t,” Draco interrupted with a shake of his head. “Please don’t try to think up ways to string me along. You and I have never been friends, Harry. We’ve always been more than that and I refuse to settle for friends.”

“You refuse?” Harry replied, slightly shocked by Draco’s sudden boldness. It was the side to Draco that he had always admired: strong, proud and resolute. It made the boy passionate in a way no other could match, but Harry had seen very little of that side of Draco over the last few months. He could see now, from the set of his jaw, and the narrowed unblinking stare of his stormy gray eyes that Draco was immovable on this topic. “So all or nothing?” Harry asked.

Draco nodded once in confirmation, his face still set as if anticipating a blow.

“Fine,” Harry huffed dramatically. “I’ll take it all,” he added, feigning great inconvenience at the very idea of it.

A momentary lapse of resolution crossed Draco’s face, and then he merely looked confused. “What?” he asked, as if seemingly unable to comprehend the words hanging in the air.

“I don’t want to lose you, Draco. Whatever I have to do to get you back, I’ll do it,” Harry replied, watching Draco expectantly.

“You’re serious?” Draco asked, clearly not expecting Harry’s answer to be ‘yes’.

“I love you,” Harry told him. “And apparently nothing you do will ever make me love you any less. I’ve loved you this whole time; I just didn’t know what to do with it when I thought you’d betrayed me,” he added. “So show me what to do with it.”

Draco fell on him with a force that knocked both of them to the bed, and without giving Harry even a moment to second-guess himself, Draco kissed him with all the fire that had been building inside of them over their previous weeks apart.

They devoured each other, both of them seeking dominance, and neither gaining it for long. It was like a well-rehearsed dance that set Harry’s nerve endings alight.

Harry enjoyed Draco’s comfortable weight on top of him but the friction of their bodies rubbing together reminded him of what they had meant to do the night of their separation.

Suddenly nothing was more important than staking his claim on the boy he was meant to love for all of eternity, and that final physical bond seemed to be all that hung between them.

As he groped at Draco’s belt, the blonde’s eyes went wide. “Harry?” he asked, pulling his face away and stilling Harry’s hands. “We don’t have to rush into anything.”

“It’s time,” Harry said, just as resolutely as Draco’s ultimatum had been.

“We’ve been together for all of ten minutes,” Draco countered.

“We’ve been together for years, we just keep taking long breaks,” Harry replied, a sardonic smirk crossing his features.

“No more of those,” Draco demanded.

“Agreed,” Harry responded with a gentle smile. “Now Draco, will you please make love to me?”

“If I must,” Draco huffed, his wide grin making his eyes sparkle.

Draco pulled Harry’s shirt from his body and then did the same with his own before moving to their trousers. Draco hovered over him then, pale, naked and more beautiful then Harry could have ever imagined.

A light gasp escaped his lips at the sight and Draco looked down bashfully, but Harry only shook his head. “You’re perfect,” he mused, pulling Draco down into another kiss and relishing in the feel of their flushed bare skin melding together.

Long and nimble fingers wrapped around his cock and he whimpered at the touch, thrusting into Draco’s fist, wanting more. Draco smiled and gave it to him, pumping him with one hand and digging fingertips into his hip with the other.

Harry’s eyes rolled back as the pleasure rolled over him and threatened to spill over. “Please,” he whimpered, wanting Draco to take him, but Draco only shook his head, making Harry glare at him ruefully.

“I wasn’t able to save myself for you completely, but I can give you something that I’ve never given anyone else,” Draco responded while suddenly flipping their positions.

“You- you want me to,” Harry stammered.

“I want you inside of me, Harry.”

“I’ve never-“ he responded, continuing to stumble over his words.

“I know, which is why it makes it perfect for our first time together,” Draco assured him.

Harry smiled, feeling overwhelmed with a kind of gratitude he’d never felt before. Tristan hadn’t even once indicated that he would be willing to give himself over to Harry, and now he knew why. The fact that Draco was willing, if not eager to be taken over completely by him made it that much more potent.

With slow and careful movements, Harry slid himself inside of Draco. With each new thrust Draco winced, but assured Harry with a nod that it was fine and they would continue until Harry was completely sheathed.

“I love you,” Draco whispered and Harry smiled, the pleasure of making love to the blonde taking over. “I love you, too,” he replied at last.

Harry was mindful of his movements, slowly sliding out of him and pressing in again over and over until Draco grabbed his hips firmly and pulled Harry against him with a sharp, slamming motion. It rocked Harry’s entire body and made him scream out, which triggered Draco to repeat the movement until Harry took control again and began pounding into Draco with a force much more vigorous than before.

Draco hissed as Harry licked the palm of his hand and wrapped it around Draco’s throbbing erection. The additional stimulus seemed to be too much, as Draco came almost instantly, his muscles clenching around Harry and bringing the brunette’s orgasm with lightning speed.

Together they collapsed into bed, sweaty languid piles of arms and legs, each gasping for breath. “That was brilliant,” Draco muttered when he could finally speak.

“Why did we wait so long?” Harry replied, feeling the warm hand of sleep threatening to steal him away.

“Because we’re daft,” Draco offered.

Harry chuckled and nodded. “It was worth the wait though,” he replied, looking into Draco’s smoldering gray eyes and pulling him into a deep kiss.

They dozed together in Harry’s bed until the sunlight became unbearable and then they took a nice hot shower and dressed for the day, ready to go in search of food.

As Harry reached for the doorknob, he was startled by a knock and he opened it to find Headmaster Dumbledore looking perturbed and a well and truly battered and bruised Tristan standing behind him looking as smug as ever.

“That’s him, Headmaster,” Tristan said, pointing at Harry. “That’s the boy who tried to kill me,” he added, his voice pinched from the damage sustained to his nose.

Harry gritted his teeth, and he could feel Draco tense behind him as the Headmaster motioned for them to follow him to his office.

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The Headmaster’s office was surprising.

Though the architecture of the room matched many that Draco had passed through or studied in, the brilliant blue wall coloring made it slightly quirky, and coupled with other oddities the man seemed to collect, such as two-meter tall abacus and realistic bust a giant red bird on his desk, made the older man seem less sane than Draco had originally presumed.

Draco squeezed Harry’s hand gently within his own as they sat in front of the Headmaster. They had just listened to Tristan’s warped tale about being beaten nearly to death by the pair over a rejection, saying that he chose Theo over Harry and the sight of them together made the Harry lose his mind in a furious rage.

Harry was trying to restrain himself from bludgeoning the foul git again, and Draco’s calm presence beside him was the only thing that made that possible.

Shaking his head, Draco tried not to give away too much of his own emotion until he felt Tristan had played his entire hand. He was so angry with himself for letting Harry fall into such a trap. It seemed that whatever the cost, Tristan was willing to do or say anything that would manage to separate them; Draco had no idea why the infuriating arse even hated them so much.

“So then you were with this boy Theo?” the Headmaster asked gently. “Can he corroborate your tale?”

A smug pleasure ran through Draco’s veins as he watched Tristan’s eyes widen, knowing he had messed up by bringing Theo’s name into things.

“Er, sir… that is to say… I think he was sleeping,” Tristan said at last, the look on his face showing that even he thought it was a weak lie.

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes and tapped his fingertips rhythmically against the desk. “You mean to tell me that he was asleep when these boys arrived, and managed to stay in that state while one of them violently attacked you?”

Harry rolled his eyes and Draco tried to suppress a smile at the Headmasters perceptiveness, not that it took a great deal to see through the spiteful Tristan. It hardly mattered though. The truth of it was that Harry and Draco really did inflict the damage Tristan was complaining about, and that would be what would see them both expelled, though to be honest he looked far worse for wear then they had left him the night before.

“Minerva,” Dumbledore called into his intercom.

“Yes, Albus,” answered a woman’s voice through the tiny black speaker on his desk.

“Would you please find Theodore Nott and bring him here to see me right away?” he asked politely.

“Of course, sir. Expect him shortly,” she replied followed by the faint click of the intercom being disengaged.

They sat in silence waiting for Theo except for the slight interruption when the Headmaster offered them all toffees. Only Harry accepted and Dumbledore beamed at him, his blue eyes sparkling.

When the door finally opened and a woman dressed in a black skirt and tartan blouse ushered Theo into the room, everything became tense once again.

“Mr. Nott, welcome, please have a seat,” Dumbledore said, gesturing toward a fourth armchair. “You’re here because it was said that you were present during Tristan’s accident.”

“I was, sir,” Theo noted calmly, his eye flickering briefly toward Draco and Harry both.

“And can you tell me why these boys inflicted such harm on young Tristan?” he asked pointedly.

“They didn’t,” Theo said at once. “I did.”

Harry, Draco and Tristan all blanched at the admission, since the whole lot of them knew it to be untrue, but the Headmaster seemed unsurprised somehow.

“I see,” he said at last, the twinkle never leaving his eyes. “Are you aware that expulsion would be necessary for such an offence?”

“I am, sir,” Theo replied with a nod.

“Then perhaps you will see fit to indulge me as to why I’ll be expelling the wrong student for this incident?” the older man asked, leaning forward in his large leather office chair.

“Harry and Draco don’t deserve to be expelled, but I do. Maybe not for this, but I have a fair amount of bad deeds following me that I deserve to be punished for,” he replied.

Dumbledore’s smile widened as he assessed each boy in turn. “Harry, why don’t you tell me your story?”

“I don’t know what you mean, sir,” Harry replied, looking at his hands fidgeting in his lap.

“Tell me about what led to this meeting,” Dumbledore corrected.

So Harry did.

He started at the beginning with his past relationships with Tristan and Draco, and continued on with his arrival at school, then his brief but wonderful time as Draco’s boyfriend – even the horrid betrayal – Tristan and Theo’s scheming and all the way up to the night before, quoting Tristan’s words to him before Harry beat him violently to the floor.

All was recited as if lived by another person altogether. Harry had separated himself from the entire ordeal, choosing instead to live in the present, where regardless of the outcome of his school career, he would have Draco by his side.

“I see,” Dumbledore mused when he was finished, though he didn’t question or interrupt Harry through the entire story, nor did any of it seem to shock him in the slightest. “Well, it appears everything is settled then. Mr. Nott, it was a pleasure having you at our school and I’ll see to it that you are transferred somewhere nice. Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, I trust you’ll continue to keep things lively around here. Have a nice afternoon. The sun is shining, you boys really ought to got out and have fun in the snow.”

With that the Headmaster turned around and began shuffling through papers on another part of his desk, while Harry and Draco stared at one another in confusion. Theo grinned and left the office, but Tristan obviously didn’t care to have the matter dismissed.

“But Headmaster, Harry hasn’t been punished,” he protested.

“Nor will he be,” Dumbledore replied, not looking up from his paperwork.

“That’s outrageous!” Tristan screamed. “He just admitted to inflicting this damage on me! What sort of school is this where students can get away with such blatant disregard for others?”

The Headmaster turned back around and gave Tristan a withering glare. “It is my school, and I run it as I see fit,” he boomed. “Though you make a good point,” he added, more gently.

Tristan found an edge of a smile creeping across his face as the Headmaster studied the other boys again. “It does seem a great tragedy to have someone roaming our halls that would be so utterly self-satisfying, greedy and violent,” Dumbledore mused aloud.

“That’s right, sir,” Tristan encouraged.

“What would you have me do with someone like that?” the Headmaster asked.

Tristan smiled wickedly and sneered at Harry and Draco both before answering. “I would expel them at once, and then have them sent to St. Brutus’s Academy for Incurably Criminal Boys.”

The Headmaster looked to think on that and then nodded curtly. “I believe that is a splendid idea, my boy,” he said at last and tapped his intercom once again. “Minerva, would you be a dear and write me up the paperwork transferring Tristan here to St. Brutus’s?”

“Right away, Albus,” she cooed and the intercom clicked off once more.

“All settled then,” he said with a smile and appeared to ignore Tristan’s gaping mouth.

“But, sir, you’re surely not sending me to St. Brutus’s? I was the one who was beaten after all,” Tristan cried.

“And you deserved every lick from what I can tell,” the Headmaster chastised. “Not that I condone violence in any way,” he added seemingly for Harry and Draco’s benefit. “Nonetheless, I’ll not have a braggart like yourself attending my prestigious academy and besmirch its good name.”

Minerva walked in at the next instant and handed Dumbledore the paperwork while hauling a cursing and screaming Tristan out at the same time.

“I threw myself down three flights of stairs for this!” the boy screamed as Minerva pulled him from the room.

Theo was standing in the doorway and clapped Tristan on the back as Minerva hauled him off. “I hear they love pretty boys like you at St. Brutus’s, Tristan,” he called after the boy and Draco had to suppress a laugh at the imagery of the once predator Tristan being made someone’s prey.

Dumbledore winked at Harry and shooed them all out of his office. “Try not to get into too much trouble,” he said cheerfully as the door shut.

“I thought he looked worse than what I did to him,” Harry mused, taking Draco’s hand and walking down the corridor.

“I feel a little bad for Theo though,” Draco mused. “He really came through in the end, but maybe he’ll find the right person for him now, someone who will treat him right.”

Harry nodded distractedly as he watched the security officials dragging a trashing and handcuffed Tristan down the corridor toward the exit. Harry smiled sweetly and waved at the boy who had caused so much havoc in his life, and made a great show of kissing Draco passionately to let Tristan realize it was all for nothing, just a pointless endeavor to injure a relationship between two people who were never meant to part.

Draco chuckled when Harry released him and pulled him close. “Are you showing off for Tristan?” he asked.

“I’m showing off for everyone,” Harry replied and led his boyfriend toward the parking lot. “I’m hungry,” he groaned, suddenly changing the subject as if Tristan had never even entered their lives. “Let’s go get waffles.”

“I could go for a celebratory waffle,” Draco chuckled.

“And hot cider,” Harry added, pulling Draco close in the cold winter breeze.

“And hot sex after,” Draco continued with a cheeky grin.

“Naturally,” Harry replied, as if that were a given.

As they got into Harry’s car, Draco turned to face his boyfriend, completely elated that he had him back after everything. “What do you want for Christmas?” he asked, thinking that the holiday was just a few days away and he wanted to be prepared.

Harry looked back at him and smiled, taking his hand and squeezing it gently. “I have everything I want,” he replied at last.

Draco grinned and rested his hand on Harry’s thigh while they drove off school grounds to find breakfast in the afternoon, not so daunting a task in light of everything else they had faced in the last few years.

In fact, Draco could think of nothing that would cause them to separate again. This was it for him, his one and only.

Authors Note: Aw!! Sorry, I just couldn't resist. I toyed with a lot of ideas on how to take down Tristan, my beta, Robert, was extremely helpful with his research and ideas, but in the end I wanted Draco's and Harry's hands clean and for Tristan to dig his own hole. I hope you all enjoyed it, and please look out for the epilogue next week! Don't forget to review and get a celebratory waffle!!